House of Odysseus by Claire North

I would like to thank Nazia from orbit for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher - Orbit

Published - Out Now

Price - £18.99 hardback £9.99 Kindle eBook

On the isle of Ithaca, Queen Penelope maintains a delicate balance of power. Many years ago, her husband, Odysseus, sailed to war with Troy and never came home. In his absence, Penelope uses all her cunning to keep the peace - but this is shattered by the arrival of Orestes, king of Mycenae, and his sister Elektra.

Orestes's hands are stained with his mother's blood. Not so long ago, the son of Agamemnon took Queen Clytemnestra's life on Ithaca's sands. Now, racked with guilt, he is slowly losing his mind.

Penelope knows destruction will follow in his wake as surely as the Furies circle him. His uncle, Menelaus, the battle-hungry king of Sparta, longs for Orestes's throne - and if he can seize it, no one will be safe from his violent whims.

Trapped between two mad kings, Penelope fights to keep war from Ithaca's shores. Her only allies are Elektra and Helen of Troy, Menelaus's enigmatic wife. And watching over them all is the goddess Aphrodite, who has plans of her own.

Each woman has a secret. And their secrets will shape the world.

Warning this story follows on from the awesome Ithaca by Claire North – yes you should read that it’s amazing!

In fantasy we love a battle. The sweep of majestic horse cavalry; a storm of arrows, the clash of swords and perhaps enjoy the blood being spilt? That love of our story has been around a very long time. It s something we have been brought up on. The archetypes of the mighty warrior, the cunning, the bravery, the ruthlessness and can we not perhaps now notice how very manly all that sounds? Its very rare to see many women play a role in this especially when we move back in time a few centuries and yet the women are there in the stories; just and I’m sure it’s a coincidence the storytellers ignored them or perhaps just saw them as warnings, plot devices and not much else? Claire North though has an equally fascinating battle of ideas in House of Odysseus where Spartan masculinity attempts a take over and the women who stand in its way show other ways to fight and the dangers of being underestimated. It is a glorious read once again in this series telling us of the other side of the legends of the Iliad and Odyssey.

Odysseus twenty years ago kept a promise to free Helen from Troy. He joined a mighty army of heroes, and no one has heard from him since. In his home of Ithaca his wife Penelope rules in his stead but of course a woman cannot be a Queen in her own right, so she spends every day being wooed by ambitious suitors. Recently she had to deal painfully with the mighty Queen Clytemnestra and ambitious raiders. Now that Queen is no more but Ithaca’s shores are next visited by the Queen’s daughter Elektra; her now mad son Orestes the current King of Greeks and worst of all the Spartans and their ruthless leader Menelaus and his wife Helen are on root. Ithaca faces being conquered by stealth without a blade being used.

You may be surprised and perhaps initially disappointed to hear that rather than Hera Queen of the Gods being our narrator we move onto Aphrodite who we tend to think of the beautiful Goddess of Love. That we feel disappointment at that is actually one of the angles being explored here. Why do we dismiss the power of love as weak? Why do we value the idea of power and status to feel that another equally powerful magical women is lesser? What North does is give us another unique narrator voice. Aphrodite may initially give that impression with her focus on human bodies and her love of actions of desire and lust, but she isn’t one dimensional. In fact, in many ways without Aphrodite’s offer to Paris to give him the most beautiful woman in the world we may never have had the war. As we see though she was part of Zeus’ games and how she feels about those events and Helen is surprising.

Underestimation of women has already been seen with Penelope who has proved a worthy opponent but hi time she is up against in the form of Menelaus one of the most dangerous characters we’ve seen in the series. Menelaus needs to prove that Orestes is mad so he can kindly assume the throne and gain total power. He smiles, he apologises, and he gently places his troops all over Ithica hunting for his nephew. He is not the Spartan of certain shouty muscle bound movies, but he is about masculine power; pushing, planning and plotting. He assumes no one be they royalty or commoner can defy him. For Penelope it’s a dangerous game as to defy the Spartan King could mean she is quickly overruled and Ithica then becomes just another piece of his trophy cabinet. So, we have for a lot of the plot an intriguing battle of wits between the King and Queen; notably Penelope too we are reminded is a Spartan originally and so Menelaus initially suspects nothing as Orestes and Electra are hidden via Penelope’s secret army of women; but its s small island and tension rises as the troops get nearer. As Menelaus gets more suspicious the mask slips and we see exactly how dangerous and vile this man can be. He is a terrifying villain whenever he is on the page.

In an interesting parallel we get the roguish yet weirdly charming Laertes Odysseus’ father who has also done legendary things but retreated from the games and perhaps grown his understanding of women after meeting Penelope and seeing what she is capable of. His clash of heads with Menelaus is equally compelling and shows other types of masculinity can work better.

We have two other underestimated women here. Electra who hates what her mother has done is yet in some ways still echoing Clytemnestra in a relentless drive to protect her beloved brother schemes and drives but hasn’t yet got the experience and knowledge that Penelope has. She is contained by being simply a powerless princess. Finally in the royal circle is Helen. Who is a fascinating enigmatic character. The woman who as they said destroyed the world; started a war and apparently did it for love; she also saw the violent and terrifying Fall of Troy and is now married to Menelaus who treats her with constant contempt. Is Helen, victim, airhead, schemer or something else. Even Penelope can work her out or decide how to ask her any questions about one of the biggest events in recent history. North makes us see all sides to her and keeps us guessing as to what is going on about that perfect smile, downward glance and perfect skin. One of the most complex characters in the series so far. Its also worth noting that another group of women are forgotten about are the servants. People for whom Penelope has made time for as they see, hear and can act on her words. Other royals though have yet to fully realise how powerful this group of women is.

Of course, all of this is historical intrigue and politics – which I love and hugely enjoyed but we also here have gods, magic and this time monsters. Orestes, we find is being tormented by the Furies – three dangerous wild and mysterious creatures whose very inviable presence brings chaos and doom. Even Aphrodite fears them and that means North is allowed to bring in more magical imagery and this gives the tale a more epic feel. Souls are on the line here and there is a mystery as to how exactly these spirits have been brought into the story. In opposition Aphrodite has to try to find a way to work with Athena and these two very different and in many ways opposite goddesses each view the other as flawed and yet start to perhaps se what each brings to the table.

Middle volumes in trilogies can be seen purely as bridges and happily this story is not that. It’s a complex and intelligent tale exploring the biases in the versions of legends that we would have heard in the various English interpretation, subtly creating something new and subversive. I am fascinated where the finale will end even though the end is allegedly already known. But in the meantime, this is strongly recommended!